It was so popular, in fact, that people have asked me to make a similar collection again. So from Feb. 23–26, I’ll be updating this post with all the great things NICARians have to share this year.

Follow #NICAR12 on Twitter for the buzz; come to this page for the goods. And if you’re attending the conference, be sure to buy a T-shirt to support IRE, the organization that puts this fantastic event together. Ben Welsh of The Los Angeles Times is taking candid photos and posting them on Flickr.

If you want to understand someone, my advice is to sit next to them and solve a very hard problem together. You will learn who they are by watching how they think.— Michael Lopp

PyGotham and the Q&A that followed, I’m finding more reasons than ever to read Michael Lopp’s books and blog, Rands in Repose.

The tension between those who make digital products and those who don’t is a systemic problem that seems to stymie every industry, yet so few people know how to resolve it — and resolve it at scale. There must be a collection of good advice somewhere. If not, it’s probably time to start one. What do you say?

Note, this is one person’s perspective. Nevertheless, her response is a really important read. For some time now, I’ve been studying how to increase the number of women in tech and as I see it, the hurdles are three: Culture. Education. Mentorship/Role Models.

Of the three, example after example shows culture is the hardest to overcome. Cox illuminates what tech culture is like — and offers valuable advice on how a woman can use perspective to her advantage.

It’s my hope that tech culture will evolve in a way that doesn’t require a hard shell to stay in and excel.

But until then, people who don’t feel like alpha nerds but want to be in tech can learn a lot from Rebekah Cox’s reply and footnotes. Read it and leap.

The future belongs to the makers. I don’t know who said it first, but the more time I spend looking at the world out there, the more I believe this to be true. We can dream great dreams, but only those concepts made concrete can be tried, tested and built upon.

I think that’s why people like hackathons. This year, I’m cohosting Hacks/Hackers Hacking @ ONA11, a hack day in Boston on Sept. 22, the day before the start of the Online News Association conference. You’re invited to join 100 like-minded makers of all stripes by signing up now. It’s $20 — a small price to pay for what you’ll get out of it.

September is a long way off, which means there’s lots of time for pre-hackathon planning and collaboration. Whether or not you’ve participated in a hackathon before (and if you haven’t, here’s why you should), you can help make the period from the signup announcement up to day of event a productive and collaborative one.

Post your suggestions for bringing any hackathon community together online at the Hackathon Runway EtherPad instance, or feel free to leave your thoughts in comments below.

Things I’ve been thinking about:

What’s the most effective way to collaborate?

How can non-coders play an active role?

What tools (software, SDKs, repos, APIs, apps) have you used?

How can the hacks made be incorporated into everyday use?

Your ideas and feedback are always appreciated.

By the way, I’m here at the MIT Knight Civic Media Conference, one of the most exciting annual gatherings for people interested in gathering, organizing and disseminating public information. It’s the highlight of the Knight News Challenge, and showcases some of the most motivated and dedicated thinkers and doers in the field. Sixteen proposals were funded this year, and they’re the most wide-ranging and potentially impactful yet.

If you’re here, say hi and be sure to come to my 2:30 p.m. unconference session today on building pre-hackathon community. I’ll be there with Matt Carroll of the Boston Globe and Phillip Smith of the Mozilla Foundation.

A long time ago in an Internet culture far, far from where we are now, it was normal to use a handle online. As the founder of a Macintosh enthusiast webzine (remember those?), I was known as MacDiva. People liked the name: It was catchy, meaningful and easy to remember.

In 2007, like many of you, I discovered Twitter. That same year, I joined the Online News Association conference planning committee with the intention of sharing what was happening with as many people as possible, even if they couldn’t be there in person.

At the time, I couldn’t post to the conference website; that was reserved as the showcase for the student newsroom. I couldn’t post to the ONA website; that would have presented problems of its own. So I turned to Twitter, created @MacDivaONA and began recording what I saw.

I’ve been involved with the ONA conference planning board ever since, experimenting with different ways of bringing a virtual version of the annual event to anyone who wants to be a part of it.

The conference isn’t the only time I use Twitter, though, and ONA isn’t the only organization I’m actively involved with. And as Jennifer 8. Lee recently pointed out, people who don’t know my IRL name often do know me as MacDiva — though they don’t always remember the ONA ending.

So now that there’s a brief lull between journalism and technical events, I’m simplifying — for all of our sakes: On Twitter, I’m now @MacDiva.

Have you recently decided to change your online name? What urged you to action? Share right here, or ping me @MacDiva.